symposium
Americannoun
plural
symposiums, symposia-
a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, especially a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience.
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a collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic.
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an account of a discussion meeting or of the conversation at it.
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(in ancient Greece and Rome) a convivial meeting, usually following a dinner, for drinking and intellectual conversation.
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(initial capital letter, italics) a philosophical dialogue (4th century b.c.) by Plato, dealing with ideal love and the vision of absolute beauty.
noun
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a conference or meeting for the discussion of some subject, esp an academic topic or social problem
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a collection of scholarly contributions, usually published together, on a given subject
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(in classical Greece) a drinking party with intellectual conversation, music, etc
Etymology
Origin of symposium
1580–90; < Latin < Greek sympósion drinking party, equivalent to sym- sym- + po- (variant stem of pī́nein to drink) + -sion noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the early ’90s while working for Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s secretive arm devoted to theme park experiences, Sotto took it upon himself to hold a chef-led symposium for Imagineers.
From Los Angeles Times
I was nonplussed at a 1992 symposium in Vienna when a hall filled with international art world denizens went absolutely wild, cheering and stomping when Kelley was introduced on a panel.
From Los Angeles Times
Newsom has been in Brazil since Sunday, beginning with a global climate investors symposium in São Paulo before flying roughly 1,800 miles north to Belém for the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
From Los Angeles Times
Dandridge: “Gyopo’s symposium on the chile took me back to these flavors of my upbringing, and giving me context is like giving me a part of my culture and my heritage.”
From Los Angeles Times
The event, which has been held in parliament in the past and is billed by the FPOe as a "symposium", drew criticism from Austria's Jewish community and major political parties.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
